When the table was turned

I got a call today from a television reporter asking me to do an interview for a package to be aired tonight. It seems he did some investigative reporting and found out that I talked to a death row inmate by cell phone. That inmate was arrested in his cell today while he was speaking on that phone -- not to me, thank goodness.

On Oct. 9, I wrote about a mysterious person contacting me about interviewing an inmate on death row. Well, it turns out that that mysterious person was the actual criminal himself, who had somehow smuggled a cell phone into the prison. An investigation into the use of the phone began on Oct. 8 after the inmate contacted a Texas state senator in an effort to secure special visitation privileges for his grandmother, who was coming to visit him.

An emergency hearing of the Senate Criminal Justice Committee has been called for 1:30 p.m. tomorrow. The senator who brought this to light wants to know how in the world cell phones make it to what is supposed to be the most secure place in the Texas prison system. There have been 19 investigations into the use of cell phones this year on death row in Texas.

My story about this event will print tomorrow morning. The Austin American Statesman printed an interesting story today that details some of the events that led to this person getting caught. The story is available here.

So, you may wonder why I didn't do the television interview. Well, to put it simply, people hated the story I wrote about the inmate. Calls complaining about it came in all day and the letters to the editor were still coming in today. He is a dark person who disturbs people.

As a reporter, I often serve as a conduit of information for the masses. There are many, many people who don't want to read any more about how this guy feels or thinks, me included. And I certainly don't want to be linked to his illegal activities by having my mug on television.